Preview

Role Of Confucianism In Ancient China

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
440 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Role Of Confucianism In Ancient China
Stability in an empire creates strength and prosperity, and there are many ways to achieve this, such as using ideologies to standardize ideas, respecting leaders, re-centralizing government, and trading, which is what China had done.
One of the main ways China created stability was through confucianism. Confucianism is all about treating others with respect and kindness, whilst still maintaining the separation between social classes. By treating people respectfully, people did not desire to overthrow their government and leaders. This means that there was governmental stability. Another way Confucianism helped was through the Five Relationships. ( Husband and wife, parent and child, friend and friend, sibling and sibling, and ruler and subject.) With these guidelines, there was more kindness and peace in society, and more strength in the government.
…show more content…
The mandate of heaven is the permission from the heavens to rule, so there was only one true leader at a time. The gods played a big role in Chinese culture, and people did not want to disobey them. This means that people pay more respect to the government, making it much stronger. It is important to have a government that is strong, and has control over the whole empire. During the decline of the Zhou dynasty, nobles in charge of different territories became stronger that the king, leaving the government unstable, and eventually lead to the fall of the Zhou dynasty, and the Warring States Period. Wu Di worked to re-centralize government, so the nobles were dependent on the King, instead of the other way around. A re-centralized government means less arguing between territories, since everyone reports directly back the the king, unlike in the Zhou

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Han and Mauryan/Gupta empires both created hierarchical, bureaucratic governments. The hierarchy in China’s government was more flexible and was set up in the 5 relationships (ruler and subject, father and son, husband and wife, oldest son and younger brothers, and friend and friend) whereas India’s hierarchy was rigid and created through the Caste System (Brahmin, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Sudras, and finally the Pariah). Ultimately, both hierarchical bureaucracies were led by a king. In China, the Han dynasty was able to create a strong centralized government led by kings who claimed the divine right to rule China, or in the case of the Chinese Dynasties, they claimed the Mandate of Heaven. However, because of the geography of India, such as the Deccan Plateau and the Hindu-Kush Mountains, the government of India was broken up into local governments. Whereas China needed a strong centralized government in order to unite its people, India could get away with having a weak central government because Hinduism would ultimately unite the people of the Mauryan/Gupta empires.…

    • 515 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    First of all, every major nation during period 1200BCE and 220CE, Zhou, Qin, Han, established centralized government. This is crucial for Chinese history in that it is hard to find nations that established centralized government before these nations. Throughout the world, there were some centralized nations such as the Roman Empire of Mediterranean region in this era. However, these nations differed in how they had established centralized government. Zhou was able to establish initial centralized government mainly by mandate of heaven, which is the concept of king having both power and responsibility for ruling the nation. Qin established strong centralized government based on powerful military and strict legalism. Han established the most concrete centralization among these countries because instead of vassals or aristocrats, government officials of Han were sent to rule the provinces. Moreover, unlike Qin, Han adopted Confucianism instead of strict legalism. These nations endeavored to establish centralized government because it had advantages to the decentralized government in that the politic was stabled and there was less possibility of rebellion. Although these nations differed in how they established centralized government, kings and emperors of these nations had strong power compared to former…

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    * People preferred having an emperor, a bureaucracy using the Chinese language, and a Confucian state philosophy.…

    • 2265 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Athens vs Han China Dbq

    • 1023 Words
    • 5 Pages

    One of the differences Athens and Han China shared were there forms of government. Document 4 shares the characteristic of government with documents 5, 6 &7. In “the oration of Pericles”(4) “Our form of government is called a democracy because it's administration is in the hands of the peoples” while “Mandate of Heaven” (6) In this document Mencius tells the story of Yao and Shun. The Mandate of Heaven is China's belief that emperors where chose by Heaven. In the document Wan Chang asked “in that case who gave the Empire to Shun?” and Mencius said, “ Heaven gave it to him.” Wang Chang believed that Heaven gave Shun the Empire. He had that point of view because of what Mencius had told him about the Mandate of Heaven. In “Government in Athens” (5) It discusses how the Athenian Golden Age was inspired by the development of democracy by the Athenians. “In the most precise and literal sense Athenians governed themselves” there wasn't a King or an almighty ruler. “ Generals were elected from the Assembly and served for a year's term” On the contrary, “A remarkably Successful Kind of Government”(7) discusses how the…

    • 1023 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Both Han China and Imperial Rome were controlled under one central leader. The leader of the Han Dynasty had the overall power, but set up administrative districts governed by officials. The emperor also used Confucianism as a means to train people to become educated bureaucrats, who would then enforce his policies. However, the ruler of Imperial Rome set up a monarchy, disguised as a Republic, so that he could maintain complete control over his citizens. This allowed the citizens to feel as if they were contributing to government, and also allow the emperor to maintain control over his empire. Both societies also created more centralized governments by developing vast expanses of roads to promote trade, as well as levying taxes to stimulate economic prosperity.…

    • 419 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout ancient China, there were many dynasties that were set up. After one would collapse another one would soon arise and take its place. Because of this there were many different beliefs and government ideas on how China should be run. Some of the dynasties used each other’s ideas, but made them better so they succeeded this time. The two dynasties we will be looking at are the Han and Yuan dynasties. During the Han and Yuan dynasties, religious played a major part in their culture, government, and politics.…

    • 395 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Han dynasty was the most influential dynasty in Chinese history and led to china becoming a country as we know it today. They extended Chinese rule from southern Mongolia to northern Vietnam and as far west as Nepal. One of the main reason for the prosperity and solidity of the Han dynasty was the relationship between the imperial family and the elite. Each group supported each other economically as well as socially, leading to a stable and prosperous empire.…

    • 893 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    George....

    • 589 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Early China’s cities, Shang and Zhou, have very distinctive features in the ideology of kingship. In the Shang dynasty, the king and his administration were the controllers, where the king was the intermediary between the people and the gods. However, in the Zhou dynasty, the ruler was chosen by gods to justify power, and if he/she misbehaved or acted inappropriately, they would be kicked off the throne; this was called the Mandate of Heaven.…

    • 589 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Han China and Imperial Rome’s method of political control differs through styles of leadership. Within Han China, rule was gained through ancestors into a centralized bureaucratic authority and later authority became aristocratic unlike within Imperial Rome where authority began through aristocratic landlords and certain elements of democracy, not through ancestral means, and later transformed into totalitarianism. Bureaucracy is a system of government in which state officials make most of the important…

    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    China flourished as one of the world’s most cosmopolitan societies under the Sui, Tang and Song Dynasties. Officials governed effectively, economic development grew and farmers fed people, merchants and manufacturers prospered. Confucianism and Daoism was the government foundation, social structure and culture. Agriculture remained the foundation for the economy. Strong central government continued with powerful emperors and educated bureaucracy with the examination system. Landowners were at the top of the social class as well as the educated bureaucrats and military leaders. The merchants and artisans had a great deal of wealth but were…

    • 1467 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Before the Han, there was the Zhou and Qin dynasties, the Zhou was the first to implement the basis of any widespread government, and it is also the first example of continuity during the classical period in China, language. The basis for any governed civilization is a uniform written language and spoken language. Due to China having multiple indigenous dialects, the Zhou dynasty sought to create a language so that every single person who knows how to read would understand what they needed to do. This language became known as Mandarin Chinese and is still used today as the official dialect of China, it has remained unchanged since the Hans. Another example of continuity in the politics of Classical China is the way that people were punished for crimes. Even if a person was convicted and had to go to jail, they would really be doing some mental or physical work, which would be used to advance the state, or help the Emperor himself. In other words, unlike in America, where the majority of people convicted and sentenced spend their time in jail, just wasting away, without really doing anything, in China it would be the opposite. In China, you would be convicted and then you would be forced to work for the country to help it, or you would be subject to some other punishment that the Emperor saw fit.…

    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "I 've seen people howling from hunger and tearing their hair out when they had the strength. After a flood eight years ago, I saw human flesh sold in a market. I 've gone into villages where whole families committed suicide..." (Bosse 227), the sallow-faced little man Chen and Hong met at the town of Gaoyou says. This is an example of disruption in the mandate of heaven and how big of an impact it can take of those who live in Ming Dynasty China. The mandate of heaven applied to all of those who lived in Ming Dynasty China, playing an absolutely important role in how the government ran. If the mandate was troubled, the gods would respond with natural disasters, such as…

    • 1108 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The idea of ruling a powerful government based on the principle of using two conflicting ideologies at the same time appeared foreign to most dynasties of early China. In early Chinese times, after the Period of the Warring States, two ideologies emerged: Legalism and Confucianism. Legalism stressed a strong central government that expressed harsh laws while Confucianism had a decentralized government, placing trust in conscientious and learned individuals to work together to solve political issues. These two schools of thought were in stark contrast to each other and, up until the Han dynasty, had never been combined with each other through government policy. The Qin dynasty, for example implemented a strict Legalist government while the Zhou dynasty applied a decentralized Confucianist government, which, as with the Qin dynasty, did not last long. As opposed to the Qin and Zhou dynasties, the combination of Legalist and Confucianist values led to a successful government in the Han dynasty because it gave way to a strong central government along with a rise in cultural and intellectual thinking while also checking each of the ideologies to prevent one from becoming too dominant.…

    • 1655 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Confucianism In China

    • 773 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Looking back on the first civilizations of China provides a reflection of modern Chinese and East Asian societies.…

    • 773 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ideology Of Confucianism

    • 1499 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Every “successful” nation, or empire, requires a legitimate social, political, and economical system. These are the foundations that every humanizing system needs to improve and expand the dynamics of the country. The dynamics is the ideology that it follows and lets it govern the nation. The ideology could be a religious, economical, political, or socially motivated force the derives the whole nation forward. I will argue that Confucianism is an ideology that strongly connects politics, “ethics”, and social structures as well as influenced majority of Chinese dynasties to adapt some of its principles.…

    • 1499 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays